tldr videogame curation
melbourne, australia

Platform: PC (Microsoft Windows)

Artifact was as rewarding as it was deep. RNG was handled well, and over large sample sizes played little part in outcome. Monetisation was misunderstood IMO, and - very sadly - basically rendered the game dead on arrival.

Classic couch co-op beat-‘em-up in the vein of Castle Crashers, with added RPG elements. Funny, cute and at times quite challenging. Would love if there were more games like Full Metal Furies.

A charming and engaging swan song from Runic games. Beautiful stylised art direction paint engaging environments and interesting puzzles.

A respectable idea (‘shooter souls’), but ultimately falls very short, feeling very derivative, clunky, repetitive and… just not very fun.

More of the same from the quality reboot trilogy. Unsurprisingly, this one steps up the visuals and adds a couple of mechanics, but is likely the weakest as far as plot goes. Still a good game though.

Almost overwhelmingly opaque and seemingly esoteric, but delivered in an intriguing package that invites more playtime if only to figure out what the hell is going on.

As far as Steam releases go, Dead Cells is GOTY 2018. Absolutely the most buttery smooth controls amongst its ilk, amazing music, challenging mechanics and immense innate replayability.

A somewhat underwhelming remaster of one of the best videogames ever made. Not bad by any means, but probably deserved a full remake - if anything at all. If it’s the only copy you can get your hands on, it’s still incredible.

The historic grandfather of 3D shooters, paving the way for a genre that would come to dominate the industry. I remember playing this with my brother, and he’d always make it harder by refusing to shoot the dogs.

All of the learnings from DS through BB are here, and as a final instalment to the franchise is a remarkably rounded love letter to its fans. Almost certainly the most accessible Souls game.